(Eric Fogg )
A Ballade for Soprano and Baritone Solo, Chorus and Orchestra
INA SOUEZ (Soprano Solo)
HERBERT HEYNER (Baritone Solo)
THE National CHORUS
Conducted by THE COMPOSER
THE HILLSIDE is a Ballade for Soprano
* and Baritone solo voices, chorus, and orchestra to words from The Gardener, by Rabindranath Tagore. It was first performed by the Halle Choir and Orchestra in Manchester in November, 1927, when it received an enthusiastic welcome. It begins with an orchestral prelude in which a leading theme is heard at the outset. It is eloquently set forth by the whole orchestra, and after a second, more lyrical, melody has been heard, there is a quicker section with another theme of which a good deal of use is made later. A brief return of the second theme leads straight into the opening chorus, telling of a maid who dwelt on the hillside, and of women who came to fill their jars of water at the stream. One evening a stranger came down from the mountains, one whose appearance brought fear to the hearts of those who saw him, and next morning the little maid had vanished. The others wondered ' Is there a spring in the land where she is gone ? ' At that point, to music built up on the first opening theme heard in the prelude, the chorus divides into eight parts, with the words, ' We asked each other in dismay, " Is there a land beyond these hills where we live ?'''There is then an orchestral interlude founded chiefly on the two first themes from the prelude; it leads to a baritone solo which tells of a vision of the maiden who had vanished. Her own voice is heard.in an expressive solo telling of the land where she; is gone, and the Ballade comes to an end with a short chorus joining the two solo voices.